Fixture for calibrating a compliant guide assembly for a magnetic tape transport

A compliant guide assembly in a tape transport provides a precisely calibrated biasing force to an edge of a magnetic tape to precisely position the tape with respect to a read/write head. The compliant guide assembly includes a plurality of guide buttons and a spring assembly having a plurality of cantilever spring elements. A fixture is used for assembling and calibrating the compliant guide assembly. The fixture includes a base for receiving the spring assembly and the guide buttons and for aligning each guide button with one of the spring elements of the spring assembly. The fixture also includes a bias mechanism for biasing each spring element with a predetermined force. This force varies the distance between each spring element and its corresponding guide button and maintains these distances while each guide button is attached to its corresponding spring element.